In this bombastic illustrated adventure set in 1899 London, a 10-year-old orphan named Elsie helps revive a 10,000-year-old woolly mammoth from suspended animation, kicking off a series of madcap events across the city and onto the high seas. After running away from the physically and emotionally abusive Wormly Hall: Home for Unwanted Children, where the children are forced to eat cockroaches for every meal, Elsie is drawn to the exhibits of the Natural History Museum. There, she helps a strange old professor hiding in the basement to revive the newest exhibit, a baby mammoth she names Woolly. Determined to save Woolly from a life of captivity and study, Elsie and her newest friend, a professional cleaner named Dotty, must do everything in their power to elude pursuit-even if it means stealing a historic ship and heading for the North Pole. Ross-s b&w doodles highlight the characters- fluid, nonstop action. Descriptions of the urchins- lives, including ruthless beatings and endless classist insults, strike a seriously discomfiting note, but Walliams peppers this frenetic, sometimes anachronistic tale with plenty of scatological humor, resulting in a chaotic slapstick comedy. Ages 8-12. (Mar.)

Gr 4-6 Readers should buckle their seatbelts for Walliams's new novel, a fast-paced and funny story about a young girl and a woolly mammoth. All of the characters are introduced at the outset, but the star of the story is a spirited, resourceful, homeless orphan named Elsie. It's 1899, and 10-year-old Elsie, who is white, has just run away from the cruel headmistress at Wormly Hall. She is living on the streets of London when she hears about the discovery of a 10,000-year-old woolly mammoth. Elsie sneaks into London's Natural History Museum, the mammoth's new home, and connects with Woolly, who is as "lost and alone" as she is. The following pages are rich with onomatopoeia, hyperbolic adventures, and narrow escapes. Elsie and her new friend Dotty, a kindly cleaning woman at the museum, join forces with a group of retired soldiers to confront a devious villain and bumbling police officers as they outwit their pursuersand return Woolly safely to the North Pole via the HMS Victory . VERDICT A tale with twists and turns, references to British landmarks, and lots of heart, this title will appeal to reluctant readers and fans of prehistoric animals.Shelley Sommer, Inly Sch., Scituate, MA